50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year: The First Time Mom’s Guide to Your Baby, Yourself, and Your Sanity
Indispensable advice for flourishing in baby’s first year.
Discover the sanity-saving, must-have manual for every new mom! From nursing and teething guides to managing anxiety and finding support, 50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year is bursting with simple and straightforward tips, plus plenty of encouragement.
You’ll find the most important information for making the most of your baby’s first year―including suggestions for ways to get enough sleep and be your best self.
That’s the Amazon description for the new book, 50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year: The First Time Mom’s Guide to Your Baby, Yourself, and Your Sanity, available for preorder right now on Amazon.com.
It’s a great book for expecting and new moms that goes beyond the basic baby book filled with tips for how to change a diaper and deal with colic. Sure, it has all that stuff too, but it’s kicked up a notch to include things you maybe don’t even know you need to know—like how to change a diaper while also eating a taco and dealing with colic without turning to booze.
It will really come in handy for the first time new mom and I’m not just saying that because I wrote it!
Okay, it’s a little bit because I wrote it, but more importantly it’s because it truly is different. 50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year was written to help new moms not just survive baby’s first year, but to enjoy it too.
New mom life during my baby’s first year was just this overwhelmingly overwhelming experience that I mostly lost myself in. I struggled to maintain friendships, I was disconnected from my partner, and I don’t even know who I was at that time. I remember being exhausted and stumbling and bumbling through daily life but very little else about those first few months. What I do know, thanks to subsequent children, lots of research, and feedback from other mothers is that it doesn’t have to be that way.
Baby’s first year and your first go at motherhood can be so much better. Yes, it will be hard, and every day will be filled with challenges, but it doesn’t have to be zombie apocalypse hard and every day doesn’t have to feel like you’re axe battling walkers to stay alive.
When you get thrust head first (hopefully!) into motherhood, it’s easy to get consumed by the care and keeping of your new baby. But, life shouldn’t be all did he poop or just pee all the time. You need to carve out some space for you and the people you’re connected to (like your partner) too so you don’t get lost along the way.
Experts in 50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year share some of their best tips for keeping the me in mommy once baby is born.
Putting the ME in Mommy: How to Maintain You During Baby’s First Year
Make routines routine.
“With an eight-year-old, a six-year-old, and a newborn to manage each day, it has been hard to get into a routine. Here are a few things that have worked so far: 1. Taking morning showers to help me get a fresh start to the day and clear my mind 2. Pumping at least two to four ounces after feedings to create a milk stockpile 3. Meal planning for the week and cooking two meals at a time 4. Preparing clothes and lunch the night before to avoid being late (this is one is huge). Life with a newborn is hard enough, but incorporating these practices have allowed me to keep my sanity!”
—Shelley Tucker, Founder MomsWithTots.com
Find your way back to fitness.
“When I first returned to the gym after my fourth child, I was 38, still nursing, and struggling with postpartum depression. My doctor suggested a gym membership. Money was tight, but we bit the bullet—knowing what a bite that membership was taking out of our budget was a motivator in itself. I had not put on as much weight with my fourth as I had with my second and third pregnancies, but this time I was carrying a different kind of weight—the weight of shame. As I crept into the back row of the group fitness classes, I quickly found which classes were the welcoming and warm supportive environment I needed to inch my way back, one bicep curl and grapevine at a time. Fitness isn’t how you perform on your best day—it’s how you perform on your worst day. It’s about showing up anyway—no matter what. You aren’t showing up for the workout. You are showing up for yourself and what your fitness means to those who love you, need you, rely on you. Do it for them. They need you to be well. They need you strong.”
—Amanda B. Strand, founder of Freedom Group Exercise
Get an adjustment.
“Pelvic imbalance and poor lower back biomechanics are common in women postpartum due to changes in gravity, weight gain, and ligament relaxation. Chiropractic care postpartum provides gentle adjustments to restore normal motion in these areas, which improves recovery time. An additional benefit includes the prevention of neck, midback, and wrist pain often associated with breastfeeding and carrying an infant.”
—Dr. Lisa Ortiz, Webster-Certified Chiropractor, Spring Ridge Chiropractic
Get in the frame.
“Moms are only too happy to point our cameras and phones at our kids. But rarely are we in the photos. We have every excuse in the book as to why we are not there: My hair is not done, I don’t have on makeup, there is dried-up food on my shirt. EXCUSES! When our kids are 30 or 40 or 50 years old, they won’t care that our hair wasn’t perfect that day. But they will have that photo of the two of you together. They will have a photo of the love that shines through your eyes as you look at them. They will see you all TOGETHER at Disney. TOGETHER at the park. TOGETHER in random moments. That’s priceless. So, get in the photo! Hand off your camera, turn the selfie camera on yourself. Leave evidence that you were there, too.”
—LaShawn Wiltz, EverydayEyecandy.com
Make time for sexy time.
“No one really talks about how hard it is to get your groove on after the baby arrives. Everything takes priority before sex: taking care of baby, getting enough sleep, etc. You’ll have to make intimacy and sex a priority. The easiest thing is to lower your standards. Instead of long, passionate lovemaking sessions, slip in a quickie while baby naps. If you need more foreplay to achieve orgasm, read or listen to an erotic book as you feed baby or apply female stimulation gel right before your quickie. If your lady bits are still a do-not-enter zone, expand your definition of sex to more than penetrative sex. Think back to your high school days: making out, heavy petting, mutual masturbation, oral pleasure. Ultimately, be patient and listen to your body. Your sexual needs change throughout your life and what had you ready to jump your partner before baby may not work post-pregnancy.”
—Thien-Kim Lam, founder of BawdyBookworms.com
You can pre-order the book, 50 Things to Do in Baby’s First Year: The First Time Mom’s Guide to Your Baby, Yourself, and Your Sanity, now on Amazon.